The Forgotten Spartans
The Forgotten Spartans is a machinima made by Darknal in 2007/2008 (episodes 1-3 were uploaded under Darknal's account in December 2007 and by Machinima from July/August 2008 onwards). The series is an Alternate History set within the same timeline as Halo where another ring is discovered during the events of Halo 3, after abandoning the soldiers on the ring, the UNSC fled back to Earth leaving behind material and ordnance. The series follows three Spartans, Conan, Darknal and Cosmic as they attempt to flee the ring. The project was originally created by Darknal as an attempt to see if he could make it, and he wasn't intending to make a massive series, although popular demand was the reason he ended up continuing it. Plot Episode 1 The tale begins by showing the three Spartans move across a Forerunner complex (Isolation) and we find out their names- Conan, Darknal and Cosmic. They head down the Porta and find a group of Elites. They narrowly triumph and move on. They arrive at another Forerunner facility (Epitaph). They find another Elite and successfully ambush him, before arriving at a desert area (Sandtrap). They find a Warthog and a brief chase ensues, until a grav hammer-wielding Elite sends them flying into a building and destroys their Warthog. The group narrowly escape down a hole and manage to kill their attackers with a plasma grenade and two trip mines. They arrive on a Forerunner facility, and Conan goes to find an exit, while Darknal and Cosmic talk. Cosmic asks if they will ever get out of the destroyed ring. Darknal says he believes they will, but sounds unsure of himself. Conan then returns and says he has found the exit. Darknal follows, while Cosmic looks at the scenery briefly before heading off to follow them. Episode 2 Conan, Darknal, and Cosmic arrive on a Forerunner bridge. Unsurprisingly, the Elites are there as well. Darknal goes under, while Conan and Cosmic engage in a vicious firefight, eventually running out of ammo and being forced to take cover. Darknal emerges from behind and kills a couple with his shotgun. The straggler is then killed by Conan. Two more Elites are on the other side of the bridge, and under orders, one destroys the Ghosts with his Fuel Rod gun before retreating. Darknal and the others later arrive at a human base. Cosmic and Conan check the Warthog, while Darknal prepares another distraction by sneaking through the pipes and taking out an Elite with his Shotgun. The others move forward, splattering an Elite and killing the Ghost. They surround the sole survivor and ask for some information. He reveals there are other Spartans attempting to escape, but their attempts are largely failing. He claims the three of them will be tortured, to which Conan responds "We may be tortured, but you won't be one of our torturers," and burns him. After Conan burns the elite Cosmic replies "Don't you think that was a little harsh". Darknal replies. "That was nothing compared to what he would have done to us". They drive down the beach, discovering that there is nothing but sea for miles. Darknal says there is a bunker which must lead somewhere, but Cosmic points out it is blocked. Conan suggests unblocking it, by driving the Warthog into the barricades and knocking them over. This works, and the three of them enter, leaving through the tunnels. The three of them arrive at Valhalla and find the other Spartans wielding gravity hammers in a standoff with a group of Elites wielding energy swords. Conan drops his hammer and Cosmic joins the Spartans in the standoff. Both sides charge, and the message "To Be Continued..." appears on the screen. Episode 3 The video goes back to the arrival at Valhalla, where the three talk and conclude this is the Elite base and that the Hornet was here all along. Darknal dismisses it as irrelevant, saying that an answer to why they were left on the ring is more important. The sequence returns to the standoff and the charge. One Spartan is killed by an energy sword, but the Elites are all killed by the hammers. Overconfident about his victory, Cosmic keeps charging, while the rest fall back. When Cosmic reaches the hill, he sees a load of Covenant vehicles and Elites. He manages to warn them about the trap before a spike grenade detonates next to him, seemingly killing him. Preparing for the attack, Darknal takes command and the Spartans get into defensive positions. The first wave charges over the hill and open up with a vicious wave of firepower. However, the majority of shots fail to reach them and no casualties are taken from the Spartans, while the first wave is massacred by the turrets. The second wave consisting of Ghosts and infantry head over the hill. The Spartans use Mongoose transports and rockets to defeat them taking no casualties. Darknal then orders the Spartans into Warthogs, with one driving and one in the turret. Banshees are then dispatched to take them out. They destroy one Warthog before being destroyed themselves. The four survivors get to the hill and disembark, but disaster strikes. The Wraiths attack the Spartans and kill two, the only survivors being Darknal and Conan. Taking the opportunity, the Elites advance. Darknal is then hit by two choopers, but in his seemingly final moments, he takes out his attackers with a trip mine. It is later revealed he is knocked out, but his armour is damaged and he is forced to swap his helmet. Conan briefly mourns, before advancing with a missile pod and attacking the vehicles, He then switches to a ripped-off turret and mows down the attacking wave. Conan then finds the Hornet and takes to the air. As the Elites come outside the base, he uses the machine-guns on the Hornet and kills most of them, but two Elites with missile pods attack him. He gets outside moments before the hornet's destruction. Seven Elites stand in front of him, but Conan makes no attempt to fight, saying simply "Other Spartans will come, and end this war." He is then stuck with plasma grenades, seemingly killing him. Episode 4 A brief, soundless clip shows the three main Spartans training in "The Pit". It ends to show the three being promoted- Cosmic to Captain, Conan to Colonel and Darknal to Brigadier. The group then head to Rat's Nest to meet the commander and their new squad member, Dolphinie. As the group talk, Darknal and the commander discuss their mission alone. It is revealed that the Elites on Earth have joined with the UNSC to eliminate the Flood and the Covenant and Master Chief is on a secret mission. However, the Elites on this ring still need to be defeated. Meanwhile, the non-combat Spartans are busy discussing Conan and when their training starts. Two stealth Elites ambush them and stab them in the back. The Warthogs are then destroyed and another non-combat Spartan is killed. The two reactivate their camo and attempt to flee, with Dolphinie in pursuit. Dolphinie climbs onto the pipeline and manages to snipe one of the Elites by spotting a movement of the objects surrounding him. The second Elite is also on the pipeline and almost kills Dolphinie. The two briefly exchange dialogue and charge at each other. Dolphinie snipes the Elite in mid-jump with no scope. Darknal, Cosmic and Conan arrive, amazed. The group head off for their next destination, Standoff. Episode 5 The Spartans quickly arrive and get inside the red bunker. Dolphinie waits outside. Cosmic kills two Elites and Darknal kills two as well, attempting to order the sole survivor around before a Major Elite arrives and holds Darknal and Cosmic prisoner. Darknal opens the bunker, allowing Conan in. Before Darknal and Cosmic can be killed, Conan storms in with a detatched plasma turret and kills two Elites, allowing Cosmic and Darknal to kill their captors. The Major attempts to leave, but Dolphinie snipes him in his vehicle. Another Elite orders an attack on the base. The group manage to hold off the Elites for a while, but Dolphinie stays still while providing sniper support. A sniper Elite kills her with a shot to the head, draining her shields and killing her. The Spartans are forced back. A Major orders the Elites to storm the bunker, but the other Spartans have filled it with fusion coils and a well-placed grenade kills all inside. The group check on Dolphinie, confirming she is dead before driving on to the other base. On their way, it turns out the sniper Elite did not storm the bunker. He takes off in a Banshee and flips the jeep over. The Elite manages to hide by apparently going over the cliff, but Conan hijacks the ship and the Elite is kicked out on the land. Conan gets out and comes under fire, but the Elite does not have good aim at close range and misses twice. The Sangheili is finished off by a Warthog being hammered into it. Darknal activates the bunker to find that Spartans are heading to Valhalla to evacuate. The group drive there, but are too late- an Elite attack has already taken place. The group load up on supplies and move round, going through places such as Guardian, before ending up on Isolation at the events at Episode 1. The events then fastforward to Conan being stuck by at least seven plasma grenades. A week after the battle for Valhalla, two Spartans land and confirm Cosmic is alive. One guards the prone form of Cosmic, while the other looks for Conan and Darknal. Episode 6 The episode was originally meant for Christmas, but a busy Christmas season and personal life means Darknal was unable to complete Part 6 in time. The episode begins with Cosmic awake and standing. He walks over to the unconscious form of Darknal. The camera then panes to 2 white spartans saying that cosmic is alive, but they have had to change darknal's helmet to mark 5, as well as announcing that Conan is MIA. It is said that Cosmic and Darknal were moved to Avalance. Once Darknal had awoken, he had went out to look for Conan, against everyone's will. Comsic catches up with him and get into an arguement about what happened to Conan. As they finish, they turn to see a squad of elites. The cavalry comes in, and they are repelled. Stormray, whose rank is so far unsaid, begins explaining to Darknal that his team was also left on the ring and have been looking for them for the last few months. He then pulls Darknal aside to discuss their situation. Another base much like Avalance is shown, which is Last Resort, with a covenant attack force on the way. Once the heat dies down, they recieve word that the spartans were found and they decide to pack up and return to Avalance. It then goes back to Stormray and Darknal dicussing how they were left and why the covenant were trying to hold the humans back. Darknal asks how they intend to fight the army, and Stormray responds by saying "The elites aren't the only ones with an army." To which the camera zooms out to show just how they intend to do just that. Main Characters Cosmic :*Voice Actor: Michael Thake :*Armour Colour: Blue as primary colour with Red as secondary colour :*Armour type: Normal helmet with EOD chest and Hayabusa shoulder pads :*Weapon of choice: Sub-machine gun, often dual-wielded Cosmic is a Spartan Captain. His colour scheme is Blue with Red shoulder pads. His weapons of choice are dual-wieldable SMGs. In Episode 3, he is hit by a Spike Grenade after a successful standoff, although in Episode 5 two Spartans land and confirm he is alive. He seems to be the least optimistic out of the three. In Episode 6 in the Avalanche encampment, he blames the loss of Conan on Darknal. It is worth noting that his American accent is false, and the voice actor is really British. Conan :*Voice Actor: Chris Thake :*Armour Colour: Green primary and Brown secondary :*Armour type: Normal helmet with left Scout shoulder pad and CQB right shoulder pad, CQB chest :*Weapon of Choice: Brute Shot Conan is a Spartan colonel. His colour scheme is Green with Brown shoulder pads. He is often the most heroic, jumping off a cliff to hijack a Banshee and advancing against a wave of Elites when he is the only one believed to be alive alive. However, he seems to be the most unfeeling, claiming that Darknal did not fail as a Spartan by letting Dolphine die, but she failed herself. He often comes up with groups of one-liners, such as saying "You've been told" when Cosmic is threatened by the new recruit in the squad Dolphine. His weapons of choice are generally heavy weapons such as flamethrowers or melee weapons like the gravhammer, although he's mostly seen using a Brute Shot. In Episode 3, he is shown to be the last Spartan fighting, and is later stuck with plasma grenades. His status is unconfirmed, as Cosmic and Darknal were the only ones confirmed as alive in Episode 6, and has not been found. According to one of the non-combat Spartans, he has a brother, but before any more information was released, the two non-combat Spartans talking about him were killed. Conan has become a well-received character. Many people are amused by his one-liners and he is viewed as a British Master Chief by some. This is probably due to his one-liners and die-hard attitude. Darknal :*Voice Actor: Chris Thake :*Armour colour: Steel primary, Red secondary :*Armour type: Standard Mark VI, but uses Mark V in Episode 6 due to armour damage :*Weapon of choice: Battle Rifle Darknal is a Spartan Brigadier, and the squad leader. His colour scheme is steel with red shoulder pads. In Episode 3, he takes command of a group of Spartans and mows down a large amount of Elites in the Valhalla encampment. Eventually, he is hit by two Choppers, which he manages to take out with a Trip Mine. Darknal has a decent personality, asking Cosmic to be more respectful to the new Spartan Dolphinie in Episode 4, and he also shows regret when she dies. In Episode 6, he is shown alive but in a coma, and soon recovers from it. However, Darknal is annoyed by the fact Cosmic is not willing to search for Conan and hits him at one point. Major characters These characters have a significant role to play in the series or appear incredibly often. Elites :*Voice actor: Chris Thake These are the enemies of the Spartans. Dolphinie :*First appearance: Episode 4 :*Last appearance: Episode 5 :*Armour Colour: Pink primary, purple secondary :*Armour: Standard Mark VI :*Voice actor: Stacy Davis Dolphinie is a Spartan of an unknown rank. Her colour scheme is pink with purple shoulderpads. She first appeared in Episode 4 joining Darknal's unit. When Cosmic offers to make her career very interesting (a pass at her), she politely declines. When the commander and Darknal go to discuss their mission, she tells Cosmic she wants to make something clear "You try anything, and I'll snipe it off." She later deals with an Elite attack on Rat's Nest and kills both the Elites without any assistance. Later, she accompanies Darknal and his unit to Standoff and kills several Elites with a sniper rifle. However, she is eventually killed by an Elite sniper. In Episode 5, she had no lines of dialogue. It is unknown why. Dolphinie has advanced sniping skills, sniping an Elite with superb active camo and no-scoping another in a jump. General :*First appearance: Episode 4 :*Armour Colour: White primary with yellow secondary :*Armour: Standard Mark VIwith EVA shoulders :*Voice Actor: John Ambrose The General is the Spartan in charge of operations on the ring. Little is known about him. It is likely he evacuated with the other Spartans from Valhalla. Other Spartans :*First appearance: Episode 5 :*Armour Colour: Various :*Armour: Various :*Voice actor: Various These Spartans were seen in the end of Episode 5 landing in Valhalla. One confirms Cosmic is alive, while the other checks on Darknal and Conan. They are likely to have a bigger role as the series goes on. In Episode 6, it is revealed they were another group of Spartans trapped on the ring, and were tasked to find Darknal's Squad. They suceeded in doing so, but not 100% as they failed to find Conan. They replaced Darknal's Mark VI helmet with a Mark V helmet when he was in a coma from being badly injured during a standoff on Valhalla. When Darknal along with Cosmic tried to leave their Avalanche encampment to find Conan themselves, they were ambushed by a small group of Elites with Choppers and Ghosts, but they survived with the help of the other Spartans' armoured vehicles. Stormray :*First appearance: Episode 6 :*Armour Colour: White primary with green secondary :*Armour: Mark VI and hayabusa :*Voice actor: Unknown Commander of the Spartans on Avalanche. Minor Characters These characters are of lesser significance, or have not appeared as much. Elite Major This Elite was in charge of the defence of the bridge, as well as the attack on the human base. After Darknal, Cosmic and Conan kill the Elites blocking their way, he retreats with another Elite after destroying the transports. Eventually, he is cornered by the trio of Spartans and incinerated by Conan. Non-combat Spartans These Spartans were seen in Episode 4 scanning Warthogs. While discussing their training in the future, two Stealth Elites ambushed them. Two were killed by swords, while another was killed when the missiles exploded. Sniper Elite This Elite ordered the attack on the base and sniped Dolphinie, forcing the Spartans to fall back. He did not enter the base with the others, therefore avoiding the deaths his other comrades did. He attempted to board a Banshee in a last-ditch effort to kill the Spartans, but ultimately was killed by a jeep flying into him. Reception The Forgotten Spartans has received widespread praise for its excellent action footage, particularly the moment in Episode 5 when Conan jumped off the cliff to board the banshee. The vehicle chase scenes in the earlier episodes were also highly praised. Some fans have even commented that the series was way better than DigitalPh33r's machinima projects. The high quality of voice acting, sound placement and camera angling also captivated many people. The few 'epic battles' involving the three spartans and seemingly limitless elites added to the series' success. Because of this, Machinima has given it a playlist link on their YouTube page.